designing a fast rowboat

Versions 9.3x should be able to handle up to 201 stations and waterlines, despite what the manual says

 

I have no answer to those questions and don't know if my guess will be right. At the moment you change one parameter it influences most of the others. It might be beneficial or maybe not.

The calculation programs sure help a lot to give answers to these questions but even the most sophisticated ones have limitations in some aspects.

If I am ever going to build a guideboat I would use the outer stem no matter of its positive or negative effects because I like the looks and have no intention to race.

 

Hmm. Ok. Question: does any sane person need more than 81, for recreational rowboat analysis? Possibly for stations, if you want to get fussy. Can't see it being needed for waterlines, given the usual draught of these critters.

Next question: will the latest Delftship export to 9.3x? It exports quite happily to 9.2x. If some jiggery pokery is going to be needed to make the 9.2x files compatible with 9.3x, what does said jiggery pokery consist of?

 

Yes, for some benchmarking purposes.

Very unlikely.

Yes.

 

Excellent reason.

 

Yup. Works for me. Even if he did decide to race, a bit more determination would have more effect than that outer stem.

BTW, just last night I decided to tweak the stem profile on the boat I'm building, just to make it look a bit nicer. In theory it should make the boat slower, due to a few extra grams above the waterline and a tiny bit more windage. In practice, the only difference that will be noticed is that it'll look nicer.

 

Excellent reason

 

Had a thought about guideboats. I'm building something four feet wide, just for several practical reasons to do with my personal SOR for this boat, but to be honest I'd prefer something narrower.

My old boat from yonks back was 32" at the sheer, plus gunwales, so a bit under 34" overall. I found this very pleasant, simply because that sort of beam gives a different line of sight over the gunwales compared to a four foot wide boat. The result is that you can see the water moving past a lot closer, and this makes the boat feel more satisfying even if it's going no faster for the same effort. You feel more "connected" and the water appears to be moving faster than it would if you were watching it further away.

Having remembered that, I'm fairly sure it's part of the appeal of guideboats. Someone who wasn't aware of the effect might be subconsciously impressed by the apparent speed.

The downside of a 32" wide boat is that it really requires sizable outriggers to put the rowlocks on, which can be a bit of a nusiance at times. Despite that, if I was just building something as a solo boat for myself, with no other worries, I'd definitely go for something narrow.

PS: By the way, do you have a price for the Sarana rowlocks?

 

- any kayaker will tell you it's part of the attraction! Nothing beats sitting on the bottom of boat with a sub-18" cockpit at full bore, wet butt notwithstanding.

 

oarlocks are important

That is a big downside for me...my long reach and body type does not want to do the stroke rate that 7 1/2' oars demand. I think 44" is an absolute minimum for me. My next boat will probably be between that and 48". I am excited to get Drake to the new owner, finish other projects in my way, and get onto the new boat in the works.

The Sarana oarlocks can be gotten from Puuvenepiste. Talk to Ruud. I'll likely be using these oarlocks OR Douglas oarlocks and Martinoli d-sleeves. It all depends on if I want to feather. Feathering with shorter oars doesn't make a ton of sense to me, so it may depend on what oar length I end up using. This is a nice system...


Douglas_Martinoli by Clint Chase Boatbuilder, on Flickr

One important thing I strive for as an oarmaker is getting a nice snug fit between the d-sleeves and the loom. Sea trials will get the pitch just right. The oarlock sockets are important. I like a super tight tolerance between the locks and the socket. The nicest sockets and traditional 'horn' oarlocks available anywhere are from Duck Trap Woodworking, but I will get buy the oarlocks rough out of the casting so that the tolerance can be customized.

 

I've never liked the Douglas rowlocks. I think they're pointless, because as soon as they start to wear the pitch control goes down the tubes. It's like someone saw proper fixed post racing locks but didn't fully understand them, so just made normal ones that sorta looked the same. To my mind, Douglas locks are the worst of both worlds.

My 2c: if you want feathering and pitch control, I'd use either Gacos or something like this:

 

On Walter Baron's website I found the lines of the Monument River Wherry, a design I have been interested in for a long time and which should not be missing in this thread. Jon Aborn, the designer successfully raced her for a long time.








Walter Baron on his "Boat Ideas and Design Possibilities" page:

Jon Aborn in his Monument River Wherry in the Essex River Race 2010:

 

Sorry those Gaco's are too ugly.

I have put two sets of these Douglas d-sleeves together....like any bronze set up it will wear.

Will the Gaco's mount on a wooden gunwale?

 

Sure, they just drop straight into standard rowlock sockets.

http://www.gacooarlocks.com/gaco-oarlock.html

 

I'm open to them as an option. He may have something.

Is there a lot of space once the oar is inside the lock? It can fit up to 2 1/4" so it seems that a standard oar may have too much "slop".

I like the Puuvenepiste Sarana's but they yield dramatically different rowing styles. Night and day.